One day, 110 miles and a lot of flapjack!

Two years ago, I was pretty much your typical 14 year old, lying around, listening to music, "floorganising" my things; and pretty much allergic to exercise! Then my dad started taking me out mountain biking once a week. At first it was bad. I mean really bad. Going downhill was slow and scary, going uphill was even slower and agony, my legs burned, my lungs ached and I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest! I'll be honest, I hated it.

But I stuck with it. We kept going, puffing up hills and then crashing back down the them. I didn't hate it anymore but I probably wouldn't be doing it if I had the choice. But then something really weird happened...its just unbelievable... I PASSED SOMEONE!
Yes, little me, who was dying on those uphills, struggling to fightback the tears sometimes overtook someone! And then another. And another. And I started to enjoy it an look forward to those rides, and even began night riding, but that's a whole other story!

One day we went for a ride out along the old railway line towards Newport, and carried on, and rode up the Wrekin- it has without doubt the hardest thing I've ever done. When I'd got my breath back at the top, we looked west to the Welsh borders, and dad talked about his idea to carry on one day and ride all to through Wales to the beach at Barmouth. Yeah, right, good luck with that I said, it seemed crazy, but something about it stuck with me because a few weeks later I decided to go for it and try and raise some money as we go. It was only then that dad told me it was 110 miles!

Long story short, two years later and after a brief layoff due to exams this spring, I am trying to cram in the training miles to do this in July. It'll be a tough, the furthest I've gone is 40 miles and that nearly killed me, but I am now starting to ride 30 miles regularly as a solo girl!

So how can you help? Well, its easy really. I'll do all the sweating and pedaling for 110 miles, through all those lovely Welsh hills, from Stafford to Barmouth, in one day. And I'll do it for those wonderful people at the Donna Louise Trust, whose hospice helps Life Limited Children and their families, to get through one of the most awful terrible experiences any family could ever have to go through, the loss of a child. They provide end of life care for children and is vital for all those involved. All you have to is click the button and donate a few pounds. Even 50p. Come on. Please. Help Me! My journey has been, and on the day will be, hard, but it just pales into insignificance by comparison to what those at the Donna Louise Trust go through.My just giving page

Hi, a quick question, you only signed up today on here. Of course that's fine by me (and also nothing to do with me!) but is your Dad on here, how come you picked on STW, do you have any evidence of what you're doing?

Would happily sponsor, just a bit suspicious, which is probably more my issue than anything to do with you

It's not possible to divert any of the donations to anywhere other than the nominated charity on the Just Giving page.
She's doing a bike ride. This is a bike riding website message board. Where would be more appropriate to publicise it?

Hi, Yep Daughter dear is here on recomendation from me. Ive been a STWer since way before the big hack and forum revamp years ago. Shes been an occasional reader since shes started riding ( i think the first thing she read was Agent Picolax!). She wanted to know what I had done to fund raise previously, and i suggested posting here, as people had been very supportive here, both with donations and advice, when i did my first 24 hour solo at SITS back in 2009, when we managed to raise over 3k for the same cause. Yeah I can understand a little suspicion I guess. I i tell her we on the STW forums are pretty much all extreme right/left wingers, raving liberals, and prone to spontaneous electronic outbursts, but that when a fellow STWer really needed help or support, that there was no place better to be.
Anyway, seems she might be turning into a chip off the old block with the endurance events, especially as shes racked up more miles than me for the last two weeks in a row. Strange mix of emotions when she went off on her own for the first time the other week, and came back beaming having done 30 mile on her own!

Ok, done. Donated the stupid tyre purchase I made & then sold whilst I bought new due to impatience of waiting for s/h ones to arrive!

Such a nice story to read and know that you're into the world of cycling. You've got a hell of a challenge on, more so your Dad as he's one of us! Keep us updated as to what's happening please, and best of luck

I went out for a ride today with my daughter whos 17. It was on her request which is very unusual as its usually impossible to get her out of her bedroom and away from tumbler. We did 10 miles, she was tired but enjoyed it. I am going to show her this thread as i really hope we can make it a regular thing, and this may help inspire her. Having a challenge may help.

The old railway line used to be a bit of a disaster zone from Gnosall westwards, but its been in improved over the last few years. There's just about a mile or so that isn't surfaced and can be a bit soft or muddy in the wrong conditions. From Newport we take the minor roads towards trench lock, and from there along the Austrians route towards Wrockwardine. And then back again. On occasions we put in an ascent of then Wrekin at this halfway point.

Thanks all for the donations and support, it's definitely giving me a reason to keep pedaling! Also the 50 mile ride yesterday was good and bad. Good- it was 50 miles and I didn't feel completely spent. Bad- I burnt my arms and it's my prom on Wednesday! Oops...

Epicyclo - start off easy (and not technical) with the promise of cheesy chips at a half-way pub. Let them decide route / distance and date in advance so they call the shots. If they've got a mate who may be interested, get them along as well.

Starting to work with me, and actually more fun / rewarding than I expected!

Epicyclo - start off easy (and not technical) with the promise of cheesy chips at a half-way pub. Let them decide route / distance and date in advance so they call the shots. If they've got a mate who may be interested, get them along as well

Yep, did that too , but made the mistake of doing this when she had been riding for a few months. What this meant was that, basically, she invited her friend along for a ride around Follow the Dog, only for us to set off together, and for Ellie to zoom off in her newfound confidence and leave her mate pootling along with her dad, i.e. me! It wouldn't have been so bad, but in the first section it loops back on itself and passes the outbound trail, so she saw us lagging..... And then steamed on anyway! Nice!
Not long after that she started night riding. She rode every week that winter, usually at night, come hell or high water, and it was a nice moment when she had had to pass up one of her regular rides due to other commitments, and had not ridden that week when she started shuffling other stuff to make sure she got her ride in, as she was missing it.

Thanks everyone for your support, and kind comments. It really means a lot to Ellie, but it means even more to the children, and their families at the Donna Louise Trust hospice for life limited and end of life children.

Epicyclo- what everyone else has said I totally agree with! Make sure you've got some nice tasting gels or flapjack too, it always helps! Plus, if there's a group of people doing an organised regular ride (for example; the woman at my local bike shop does a regular lady's ride for the more confident to novices or beginners) then I would recommend taking them along to that as I found going on the Lady's ride has really boosted my confidence in my ability and just interacting with other bikers in general. I think especially for young girls it can be hard for them to find people to empathize as, in my experience, mountain biking is a predominately male past time (I'm not saying there are no women, just that from what I've seen we're a bit outnumbered) so it's good for beginner and novice riders to know other novice riders who are in the same position as them
Also, thank you for all the support guys! I can't believe that we've raised £265 in three days when the target was only £200! I know a large amount of that is from you generous single-trackers so for that, I salute you!

She's toughening up quite nicley I'd have to say: she got bitten by a farm dog on a recent training ride, an alsatian, thankfully not too badly, but still managed another 25 miles after that point.
Thats my girl!
Bruise looked much more impressive the a day or two later that when this was taken.